Ithaca Energy has seen its shares jump almost five per cent after maintaining strong production while trimming its capital spending plan.

The oil and gas firm confirmed it had made good progress in the third quarter of the year on its Greater Stella field in the central North Sea.

The majority of subsea infrastructure planned for 2015 has now been installed including a three kilometre oil pipeline.

AIM-listed Ithaca said a small amount of pipeline rock-dumping has still to be completed but will take place later this month.

The floating production facility (FPF) being built by Petrofac is also moving from the construction phase to commissioning.

Ithaca said: “The main construction works are nearing completion and handover of the various topsides processing, utilities and accommodation sub-systems for pre-commissioning is progressing.”

The vessel remains on course to be sailed away from the Remontowa Shipyard in Poland by the end of the first quarter of next year.

Ithaca recently agreed a revised contract with Petrofac for a $13.7m final payment on the facility although the money would be deferred until three-and-a-half years after the first production from the Stella field.

A further payment of up to $34m may be made depending on when the vessel - which is around 82 metres long, 75m wide and 30m high - sails away.

First production from the Stella field continues to be pencilled in for the end of the second quarter.

The solid progress made across its operations, coupled with the sales of its Norwegian business, caused Ithaca to trim its annual capital spending figure by $30m to $120m.

For the July to September period average production was around 12,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up from 11,600 in the same period last year.

Around 80 per cent of its production in the quarter was hedged at an average price of $90 per barrel of oil, compared to an average Brent price of $50.

Average production for the first nine months of this year was 12,300 boepd with Ithaca stating it remains on course for an annual average of 12,000 boepd.

The company outlined that it was helped by its planned maintenance activities being performed efficiently during the most recent three months with down time on its Cook field less than initially forecast.

Net debt at the end of September was $750m, down from $788m at the close of June.

Ithaca said it now expects net debt to stay at around $750m until the end of the year which is lower than the $800m previously forecast.

In a note analysts at Panmure said: “With production strong, [capital expenditure] and debt levels seen lower than previously advised and with good progress on the Stella Area Development, this was a positive update.”

FirstEnergy analysts said: “We continue viewing Ithaca shares as one of the most attractive vehicle to play an oil price bounce back.”

Ithaca’s house broker Cenkos said the extensive hedging programme continues to mitigate the impact of lower oil prices.

Shares in Ithaca were up around 1.5p at 1pm.